Recipe for "goulash-1"

NAME

     GOULASH-1 - Southern Hungarian goulash
     This goulash is a specialty of Szekely, the southern part of
     Hungary.   My  grandmother  cooked it without a recipe; this
     recipe is from my mother, with my  modifications.   (Szekely
     is  not  pronounced  the  way it's spelled; "say-ki-ee" is a
     little closer, but still wrong.)

INGREDIENTS (Serves 6)

     1 kg      sauerkraut, rinsed and drained (use a colander)
     15 ml     caraway seeds
     30 g      butter (or oil or bacon drippings)
     500 g     pork shoulder, cut into large bite-sized pieces
     500 g     Hungarian sausage, or Polish sausage, sliced  into
               large bite-size rounds
     1         large onion, chopped
     2         cloves of garlic, finely chopped
     1         green pepper, chopped
     15 ml     Hungarian sweet paprika (or use fresh paprika from
               the supermarket)
     500 ml    sour cream

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Use a covered pot large enough  to  hold  all  the
               ingredients.   Put  the  sauerkraut in just enough
               water to cover it, add caraway seeds,  and  simmer
               with the cover on for two hours (or longer, if you
               want).
          (2)  In a large, heavy  skillet  melt  the  butter  and
               brown the pork.  Put the pork and the sausage into
               the pot with the sauerkraut.
          (3)  Saute the onion in the skillet until  transparent;
               add  the  garlic and saute for a few more minutes.
               Add this to the pot, along with the  green  pepper
               and paprika.  (I've had good luck adding some cay-
               enne at this point.)
          (4)  Simmer (with the cover on loosely) for a couple of
               hours, mixing it up occasionally.
          (5)  Remove from heat and let cool for 30 minutes; then
               stir in the sour cream and serve.

NOTES

     This goes well with noodles, dumplings, potatoes, or  spaet-
     zle (called nokedli in Hungarian).  The longer it cooks, the
     better it tastes; it's even better reheated.   Cook  it  the
     day  before  but  don't  add  the  sour  cream  until you've
     reheated it.

RATING

     Difficulty: easy.  Time: 30  minutes  chopping,  many  hours
     cooking.  Precision: Approximate measurement OK.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Jeffrey Mogul, Computer Science Department, Stanford University
         {ucbvax,decvax}!decwrl!glacier!navajo!mogul, mogul@Navajo.Stanford.EDU